President Javier Milei will hold meetings with US President Donald Trump, IMF managing director Kristalina Georgieva, and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu during a three-day trip to New York for the United Nations General Assembly. He is also set to give an address to the assembly on Wednesday.

Milei is traveling to New York on Monday evening, a day later than planned, after Monday’s announcement that Argentina will temporarily eliminate export duties on agricultural goods, a move the government hopes will bring in more dollars.

The trip comes at a complex moment for Argentina’s economy: growth has been cooling, consumption is down, and monthly inflation has been hovering stubbornly between 1.5% and 1.9% since April. Last week, the Central Bank sold off US$1.1 billion in three days to support the peso.

All eyes will be on the outcome of Milei’s meeting with Trump: the Argentine leader has been seeking financial support from the United States. On Friday, Milei told La Voz del Interior newspaper that talks over a possible loan were “very advanced,” and before the president traveled on Monday, US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent wrote online that the U.S. was “ready to do what is needed within its mandate to support Argentina.”

Milei is scheduled to watch Trump’s speech at the United Nations General Assembly on Tuesday, before meeting with the U.S. leader at 12:45 Argentine time. Bessent confirmed on Monday that he would also attend that meeting.

IMF welcomes Bessent’s Argentina comments

The changed itinerary means his meeting with Georgieva, originally scheduled for Monday at 6 p.m. Argentine time, is instead taking place on Tuesday.

International Monetary Fund (IMF) managing director Kristalina Georgieva posted that the fund welcomed Bessent’s message, which she said “underscores the crucial role of partners in promoting strong policies for stabilization and growth for the benefit of the people of Argentina.”

The International Monetary Fund agreed a US$20 billion deal with Argentina in April. It disbursed US$12 billion upfront and a further US$2 billion in August. However, Argentina has missed international reserve accumulation targets since the start of the program.

In August, Georgieva said that the government should provide “social assistance to the most vulnerable” but that “efforts to ensure any new tax or spending initiatives are fully funded remain important.” Since then, Milei has faced a flurry of legislative defeats in Congress as lawmakers vote to overturn bills on social spending for children’s hospitals, people with disabilities, and public universities.

On September 11, IMF spokeswoman Julie Kozack said of Argentina: “We have continued to emphasize the importance of a transparent, consistent, and predictable monetary and FX framework to help manage market volatility.” A week later, the dollar exchange rate hit the upper limit of the banded float scheme and Argentina’s Central Bank began to sell dollars to prop up the value of the peso.

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Milei to meet Netanyahu

On Thursday at 4:45 p.m., Milei is scheduled to meet Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, before an award ceremony by the Jewish organization B’nai B’rith. Since taking office, the Argentine leader has positioned himself as a staunch ally of Israel, and has pledged to relocate Argentina’s embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem by 2026, a shift that would make Argentina only the seventh country in the world to do so.

Argentina was one of only ten countries to vote against a peaceful two-state solution for Israel and Palestine at the United Nations earlier this month, which included the disarmament of Hamas.

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